Vita

Huster studied law and philosophy at the University of Bielefeld and the University of Frankfurt am Main starting in 1984. In 1990, he passed the First State Examination in Law and worked as a research assistant at the chair of Görg Haverkate at the Faculty of Law of the University of Heidelberg. He received his doctorate there in 1993, and his dissertation was awarded the Fritz Grunebaum Prize. From 1993 to 1995, he completed his legal clerkship, including at the District Court of Heidelberg. After passing the Second State Examination in Law, he worked as a research assistant at the chair of Görg Haverkate. In 2001, he obtained his habilitation in Heidelberg, receiving the teaching qualification for Constitutional and Administrative Law, Social Law, European Law, and Legal Philosophy.

In the summer semester of 2002, he represented the field of German and European Constitutional and Administrative Law at the Distant-Learning University in Hagen, where he was appointed as a university professor for the winter semester of 2002/03 (October 2002 to March 2003). The Distant-Learning University awarded him a research funding prize. Huster became a member of the board of the Institute for European Constitutional Sciences (from German: Institut für Europäische Verfasungswissenschaften, IEV) of the University. In November 2004, he moved to Ruhr-University Bochum to the later-renamed chair for Constitutional and Administrative Law with special consideration of Social Law, where in 2005 he also became the managing director of the later-renamed Institute for Social Law. In 2008, he became the managing director of the Center for Medical Ethics e.V. (from German: Zentrum für medizinische Ethik, ZME). In 2011, he declined a call to the University of Augsburg.

From January to March 2007, Huster was a Visiting Researcher at the Kennedy Institute of Ethics at Georgetown University (Washington, DC). He spent the academic year 2010/11 as a Fellow at the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin. In the winter semester of 2012/13, he received personal funding from the Mercator Research Center Ruhr. In the winter semester of 2013/14, he led the research group "Normative Aspects of Public Health" at the Center for Interdisciplinary Research at the University of Bielefeld. In the summer semester of 2014, Huster was a Fellow of the DFG (German Research Foundation) Collegiate Research Group "Norm Justification in Medical Ethics and Biopolitics" at the University of Münster. He spent the summer semester of 2015 as a Fellow at the Alfried Krupp Wissenschaftskolleg in Greifswald. From 2017 to 2019, he served as Dean of the Faculty of Law at RUB. In the winter semester of 2019/20, Huster was a Fellow at the Center for Advanced Internet Studies (CAIS) in Bochum, and in 2023/24 at the Hamburg Institute for Advanced Study (HIAS).

Huster is a member of the SPD (Social Democratic Party of Germany) and was a member of the state board of the Working Group of Social Democratic Lawyers (from German: Arbeitsgemeinschaft sozialdemokratischer Juristinnen und Juristen, ASJ) in North Rhine-Westphalia from 2008 to 2012.

Research Focus Points

His research focus points are constitutional, legal philosophical, social, and health law issues. He was/is a member of interdisciplinary research consortia (such as the DFG Research Group 655 "Prioritization in Medicine"), co-editor of several journals (such as „Medizinrecht“ (Medical Law) and „Kranken- und Pflegeversicherung (KrV)“ (Health and Long-Term Care Insurance), and series editor (such as "Bochumer Schriften zum Sozial- und Gesundheitsrecht“ (Bochum Writings on Social and Health Law) and "Interdisziplinäre Studien zu Recht und Staat“ (Interdisciplinary Studies on Law and State)). He is also a member of scientific commissions (such as the advisory board of the Max Planck Institute for Social Law and Social Policy, Scientific Commission "Wissenschaftsethik“ (Research Ethics) of the National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina). His books "Die ethische Neutralität des Staates“ (The Ethical Neutrality of the State) (2002, 2nd ed. 2017) and "Soziale Gesundheitsgerechtigkeit“ (Social Health Justice) (2011) were each included in the recommended reading list "Legal Books of the Year"; since 2016, he has been a member of the selection committee.

Huster is/ was (deputy) chairman of the arbitration board according to § 130b SGB V for the determination of reimbursement amounts for pharmaceuticals, member of the Central Ethics Commission at the German Medical Association (from German „Zentrale Ethikkommission der Bundesärztekammer, ZEKO“), head of a working group at the Standing Commission on Organ Transplantation (from German „Ständige Kommission Organtransplantation, StäKO“), chair of the Expert Committee according to § 5 (9) IfSG for the evaluation of pandemic policy, and member of the government commission for a modern and needs-based hospital care.

In 2018, Huster was appointed to the Leopoldina National Academy of Sciences. In 2014, Huster was awarded the prize "Recht und Gesellschaft“ (Law and Society) by the Christa-Hoffmann-Riem Foundation. In 2018, he received the 1st AeV Prize "Medizin und Ethik“ (Medicine and Ethics) from the Ärztliche Verrechnungsstelle e.V. Gauting.